What Are The Major Challenges Facing E-commerce Companies Today?

The major challenges facing e-commerce companies in 2020 will be different from what they will face in 2021 and beyond.

Here’s why.

The constant evolution of the e-commerce sector as a result of the popularity of artificial intelligence and other technological advancements are some of the key factors that are going to change the face of the industry.

Notwithstanding the numerous opportunities in the e-commerce industry today, most e-commerce entrepreneurs are still finding it difficult to increase their revenue, satisfy their customers and build a real business they can be proud of.

In today’s article, we will not only outline some of the key challenges hindering the growth of the e-commerce companies but we will also offer solutions that can help you scale your online sales strategies.

Here are the major challenges facing e-commerce companies today.

1. Difficulty in finding the right product to sell

How do you know what the market really wants to buy so you can give it to them? Finding the perfect product for the right audience is the key to unlimited sales.

In our society of today where people’s desires are constantly changing, it’s becoming more difficult to find what people want to buy.

You might think everyone actually wants to live a healthy life but have you asked yourself why entertainment is selling faster than supplements? 

Supplements were actually manufactured for the regeneration of the cells. But until people are on the verge where that’s the only option to live, most people will never know if a thing like that ever existed.

To be able to run a highly successful e-commerce business, you must learn how to find the right product for a starving market.

Related: 10 Best Dropshipping Products to Sell in 2020

2. Inability to attract the ideal customers to your product

The biggest mistake e-commerce entrepreneurs make is creating a product and then turning around to look for customers. That’s more like putting the cart before the horse.

The right thing should be to find a product for a starving market. That way, you won’t struggle to attract the ideal customers to your product. And even when you do, you must learn how to optimize your product in your online store so that it will be visible to people that need it.

The quickest way to attract the ideal customers to your product is simply by giving them what they want not what you want to sell. It eliminates hard selling and makes selling a fun experience.

How do you attract the ideal customers to your product? It’s simple. Before importing a product, set up a well-optimized Facebook or Google Ads telling your target audience to pre-order the product.

You can decide to put the payment page on a test mode, that way their debit/credit card won’t be debited but it will prove to you that people are actually interested in your offer.

There’s no smarter way to test if a product is in high demand until people are willing to pull out their wallet and commit to it financially. “I’m interested” is not proof of real interest.

Related: How to Test Market Demand for a New Product or Service

3. Irregular government policies

E-commerce companies aren’t growing like it ought to in developing countries because of irregular government policies.

Whether we choose to accept it or not, the government has a role to play in the growth and development of electronic commerce, be it in the United States or any part of the world.

Double taxation or lack of tax relief for logistics companies (an important arm of the e-commerce sector) in developing countries is one of the major challenges affecting e-commerce companies in 2020.

To overcome this challenge of irregular government policies influencing the e-commerce companies, the government must adopt a non-regulatory, market-oriented approach to electronic commerce.

E-commerce companies must be encouraged and mandated to be more transparent in their dealings with customers. Customers’ data must be protected and not commercialized. You can use any of these five strategies to protect your online store from cyber attacks.

4. The dynamism of most traffic generation channels

64% of small businesses in the United Kingdom do not use the web. This is a huge disadvantage when it comes to diversifying traffic generation channels because there’s absolutely no way they can tap from the billions of dollars being transacted online.

One traffic generation channel is not enough when it comes to growing successful e-commerce businesses. 

While it is okay to find your most important traffic source for your business and own it, it can also be a disadvantage should there be changes that affect you.

In the past few years, Facebook and Google advertising platforms have been changing their advertising rules. Most dropshippers and mini importation experts are struggling to keep up with these changes.

If your goal is to make the most of your e-commerce journey, you must learn to use at least three advertising platforms. Master them so well that no matter what changes one of them makes, you can easily switch to the next.

Related: 5 Proven Methods to Drive Traffic to Your E-Commerce Website

5. Delay in order fulfillment

According to an order fulfillment statistics published by eConsultancy, 38% of online shoppers will abandon their order if it takes longer than one week.

And the worst part is that 69% of consumers are less likely to shop with a retailer in the future if a purchase is not delivered within 2 days of the date promised.

What does that tell you?

Giving your customers the best offer, a good discount and the perfect follow up is not enough if you don’t deliver on time. We discussed this extensively in a separate article where we discussed how to fulfill orders super fast and make more profit.

The high cost of delivery, terrible economic and government policies are some of the factors that influence the speed of order fulfillment. If something can be done about it, then you would have reduced your e-commerce challenges to a great extent.

Related: How to Spot the Best United States Order Fulfillment Companies in 2020

Conclusion

What are the major challenges you are facing currently in your e-commerce business today? Have you been able to find a solution from the ones we discussed? 

It’s not enough to talk about the benefits of e-commerce, we also need to talk about the problems e-commerce companies are facing.